PREVENTING AND OVERCOMING FEAR. 53 



first, the horses would have been frightened beyond all con- 

 trol, and spoiled. The principle is the same with any thing 

 else. The point is not to throw the mind off its balance 

 by exciting it so suddenly and strongly as to be unable 

 to obtain an understanding of the nature and character 

 of the object or sound. Let so much only be brought to 

 notice as there is ability to understand, gradually repeat- 

 ing as may be necessary. It is fear that causes the colt 

 to kick, and resist being touched ; consequently we have a 

 great many colts that are afraid of shafts, and will kick if 

 touched around the quarters or belly. I have shown how 

 easy it is to make such gentle, and so safe that they will 

 not resist the cross-piece and whiffletrees coming against 

 the quarters. Now, all this I do, with some rare excep- 

 tions, by putting the horse in a condition to overcome 

 this fear, which I can easily do, and the cause of the 

 whole trouble is overcome as if by magic. Doing this 

 as it should be, as I teach, removes all the danger and 

 trouble from this cause, and enables doing in a few min- 

 utes what is the cause of so much danger and trouble, 

 including the great loss of time, by the common system of 

 breaking. 



The thing to be accomplished is to overcome all fear of 

 being touched, or of any noise from behind, until we are 

 able to make and hold this point by the ordinary control 

 of the reins and bit. We see it is almost sheer madness 

 to attempt making bad colts safe in harness ; for it is seen 

 if the quarters of such are suddenly and unexpectedly 

 touched by the shafts, or even the touching of a strap, it 

 is likely to cause so much fear and sense of danger as to 

 excite the animal to run and kick beyond all control. 

 The fears once excited in this way, we have the habit es- 

 tablished of the wagon and harness being thereafter a 

 cause of the greatest terror. The principle is the same 

 with a robe, umbrella, blanket, or any thing else. The 

 trouble is owing to being forced to notice so quickly and 

 unexpectedly, that the innocent character of the object 

 could not be understood. It is not a little wonder- 

 ful, too, how intense an aversion of an object may be 

 created by an almost instantaneous impression. When 

 in Cleveland, O., a horse owned by Dr. Keegan was 



